When buildings are constructed, access to external utilities such as electricity, telecommunications, such as fax or telephone, computers, routers, television, cable service, security service and the like is generally provided from one or more central access points. However, access to these utilities is often needed in rooms other than the one containing the central access point. As a result, distribution systems are frequently set up at the central access point. In the electrical arts, one example of a distribution system is known as a “breaker box” or a “panel.” Wires can be used to connect various rooms within the building to this distribution system, allowing for access to the external utilities from any of the appropriately connected rooms. In the electrical arts, extending a wire from the room of interest to the distribution system is known as a “home run.”
Access to external sources or power (electricity) may be divided among several circuits, also known as branch circuits, wherein each circuit is dedicated to a specific area or point in the building. Multiple circuits permit repair or rerouting of the power if an issue arises in one circuit, without necessarily affecting the others, and branch circuits reduce the load on each line. Accordingly, the use of multiple wires for connecting various utilities and services, permits multiple rooms to have access to the same services.
To complete the wiring in a distribution system requires that the wires must be accurately connected, but that requires an understanding of the location and endpoints of each wire. However, the end point of a wire is not visible when multiple rooms or floors are involved in a system, or in large commercial projects, wherein thousands of wires may be run over acres of floor space. As a result, prior to running or connecting a wire in the distribution system, an installer must be certain of the location each wire at its position distal to the junction or breaker box, panel or power source. To avoid the time consuming process of trying to determine the source of each wire in a circuit, or conversely the end point from the junction or breaker box, panel or power source, wire installers need to try to label each wire in advance of installation, so that accurate connections can be made.
The problem arises when installing wires on site, either in new construction or reconstruction projects, or in rewiring or remodeling a project. One of the primary challenges is maneuvering the wire from it starting point to its intended end point, referred to as “pulling” the wire. In the earliest stages of construction, there are very few impediments to the installation of wire. However, as construction progresses, and walls and floors are put into place, the challenges of pulling a wire from one point to another dramatically increase, and the number of wires may increase exponentially. Without a reliable wire label at the end of the wire being connected, the wires essentially all look the same, making accurate connection impossible. At the same time, as more of the building is completed, there are more locations for the pulled wire to get caught or hung up during installation, meaning that even if the wire end has been labeled by prior art processes, the label may be damaged or completely torn away as it is routed through walls, floors or various structures. In some cases, a bulky or torn label may hold the wire in place as it is being pulled, and prevent it from moving to its intended end point.
The impediments to running a wire from one location to another are not limited to structural elements, but can also include other internal networks, such as plumbing, previously installed wiring systems, or other types of wiring, and the like, particularly since installation can occur at any point in the construction or life of a building, vehicle, machinery or other wiring project or device. While initially considered in terms of wiring for a building, the same principles are applied in any wiring system, such as for vehicles, computer systems, and the like. Consider the wiring in the Space Shuttle, where accuracy of each the connection is critical, and the power source may not be visible at the wire end to ascertain the origin. As a result, this need for accuracy makes the need for a reliable wire label system important any time wires are run in any situation in which the two ends of the wire are not simultaneously visible or identifiable, or when there are simply too many wires to distinguish one from another.
Of course, any external label is affixed to a wire being pulled, is subject to the same hazards as the wire during installation. As a result, the prior art provides labels which have proven to be subject to getting caught, hung up, damaged, or even torn off during the wire installation process, making the wire label or possibly even the wire useless without a legible label. Accordingly, installers have tried many ways, albeit with limited success, of labeling wires using home-made techniques. For example, in the electrical arts, installers may use color or tape to try to create labels, but clearly this is limited by the number of distinctly different colors that are available, whereas thousands of wires may need to be distinguished in commercial projects.
When tape is used, before labeling each wire, the tape must be taken from a roll and some process of back-folding of the tape may be used to create a non-adhesive writable surface resulting in a type of wire label, and then the tape may be applied to the wire. Each home-made label of this type may take only a few minutes to create, but when multiplied by thousands of wires, any system in which a label must be custom made for each wire by hand using make-shift materials is prohibitive, and wastes precious time of a skilled electrician during costly construction or wiring projects. Even if the custom or prior art labels are suitably attached to the wire, the labels are still susceptible to damage or destruction as the wire is pulled. Sometimes an additional tape is added to try to protect the wire label, but this adds yet another step to the labeling process, requiring even more of the installer's time, plus additional tape materials, which are not always available at the job site. Using electrical tape for this process may also leave a sticky residue making separation difficult or causing the written portion of the label to be illegible when it is needed.
In its simplest form, wire installation involves routing the wire in the distribution system from the junction or breaker box, panel or power source to the end point location where service is desired. However, wires often run for significant distances, and in some cases it may be beneficial to label both ends of the wire for accuracy or to save time the may be needed to re-trace a wire, but that, of course doubles the time that the installer must spend preparing and attaching the wire labels. Moreover, the labeling process may need to be repeated for some, if not all, of the wires that must be connected, and in high energy buildings, such as casinos with wiring to thousands of machines, it is not uncommon for tens or hundreds of thousands of home run wires to be installed, each of which requires the generation and application of a label, or even two labels.
Previous methods for the labeling of wires are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,745,740 and 4,609,208. Additionally a system for the labeling of electrical cables is the subject of Published U.S. Patent Application 2009/0241384. But such labels are ineffective, and are readily damaged as the wires are pulled during installation, as is also true for other prior art wire label systems.
As a result, until the present invention, there remained an unmet need for wire-labeling systems and methods that can provide for rapidly and efficiently, and more importantly reliably, labeling of wires that are being installed, or that have been installed, regardless of whether they are in a building, computer, vehicle or machinery or any other wired system under construction or being remodeled or rewired. The prior art provides no efficient or reliable means for protecting those wire labels during installation of the wires, while at the same time leaving a label that may be easily read at any point during or after wire installation or after connection to or completion of the distribution system.